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Mid-Level and High-Rise Apartment Safety

for People with Disabilities


For the best protection from fire, select a fully sprinklered building. Sprinklers can control and may
extinguish a fire even before the fire department arrives. If your building is not sprinklered, ask
building management to consider installing a sprinkler system.

Meet with Your Building Manager


• Request a copy of the building evacuation procedures. Ask about the emergency evacuation drills
and insist on being included. At some locations, only occupants of the fire floor and one floor
above and below are evacuated. Check with your municipality.

• Provide management with a copy of the NFPA Emergency Evacuation Guide for People with
Disabilities: www.nfpa.org/disabilities.

• Learn the accommodations that have been made to meet your needs for evacuation assistance.
- If you are deaf or hard of hearing, discuss the assistive devices you’ll need to alert you to an
emergency. These may include smoke alarms, accessories or appliances that use strobe lights,
vibration equipment, scrolling signs or message boards, and closed-circuit television
monitors, which should use ASL-inserted interpretation.
- People who are deaf – those with profound hearing loss – should use smoke
alarms, accessories, or appliances that use strobe lights and vibration equipment.
- People who are hard of hearing – those with mild to severe hearing loss – should use appliances
or equipment that emits a mixed, low-pitched sound. Some of this equipment is designed to be
activated by the sound of a traditional smoke alarm. The low-pitched sound is more effective than
the sound of traditional smoke alarms for waking people up in all age groups.
- If you use a wheelchair or have another mobility impairment, learn the steps that have been taken
to assist in your evacuation. Assistance may include:
- emergency evacuation stair descent equipment.
- an area of refuge – with two-way communication to allow you to alert first responders or building
staff to your presence –which could be the elevator lobby or exit stair landing, where you would
await evacuation assistance by building staff or first responders.
- arrangements to have your wheelchair or a loaner available
after your evacuation.
- your name, apartment
location, and type of
assistance required
posted in the fire command
center and the fire alarm
panel.

Contact the
Fire Department
about Concerns
for Your Safe
Evacuation
• Learn about the department’s
search and rescue procedures
for your building.

• Ask the department to review


with you your building’s
evacuation plan and your
own personal safety plan.
Some departments have
voluntary registries for
people who may need extra
assistance.

• If you have a service animal,


discuss with your fire
department plans to evacuate
the animal with you.
Be Prepared
• Learn the location of the exit stairwells and all routes out of the building. Know the number of
doors between your apartment and the nearest exits.

• Hard-wired, interconnected smoke alarms provide the best protection in the case of fire. Most
municipalities require them. When one sounds, they all sound. Ask what other warning systems
are in place for storms, environmental hazards, thunderstorms, or tornadoes.

• Smoke alarms should be installed outside each sleeping area, inside each sleeping room, and – if
applicable – on every level of the apartment.

• Report all hazards, such as piled trash, blocked exits, or missing exit lights, to your building
manager.
• Develop relationships with neighbors, who can be trusted to be “buddies” in the event you need
assistance with evacuation, but be sure to have multiple back-up plans in case the buddy isn’t
available at the time of the emergency.

• Have an escape plan and practice it. Remember that in the event of a fire, cleaner air is down low
near the floor, so get low and go. Before opening a door, feel the doorknob and door. If either is
hot, leave the door closed and use your second way out.
- Keep any doors closed between you and the smoke or fire. If you can’t leave, be prepared to
cover vents and cracks around doors with cloths or tape.
- Call 911 with your exact location: address, floor level, and room. Signal for help at a window
for rescuers, using a light-colored cloth or a flashlight.

• Keep a phone by your bed for emergency calls in case you become trapped and are unable to
escape. Put emergency numbers in the speed dial directory of your phones.

• If you are deaf or hard of hearing find out if the 911 or other emergency center is equipped to
accept cell phone text messages or text telephone (TTY/TDD) calls.

This information sheet is provided by the National Fire Protection Association,


1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02169-7471. Illustrations by L.S. Pierce.

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